A few weeks ago, I wrote a story about a bar in Manchester which had been the victim of a theft - with one of its framed photos being stolen during service.

The picture in question was of an old Manchester Evening News article which surprised me in some ways, and sadly didn’t in others. Dating back to 1992, the story was about a woman who was turned away from a LGBTQ+ club night in the city because she didn’t ‘look gay enough’.

It was another realisation for me that there are some things which are still very much the same. Of course, things aren’t that extreme right now (for the time being at least), there are many recent times where people have been turned away from areas like the Gay Village.

In fact, I’ve had it myself where people I’ve been with - who could get away with appearing, on the basis of it all, straight - who have been told they can’t come into a LGBTQ+ venue.

And I do get it. These spaces do exist for a reason. We need the Gay Village, we need bars where we can be our authentic selves without judgement or fear of something happening to us (whether they truly 100% exist or not is another story for another day).